Exclusive | More than 8 in 10 voters support keeping Trump’s 2017 tax cuts: poll

More than 8 in 10 likely voters want President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts extended before they expire at the end of this year, according to a new poll released as Congress rushes to finalize a “big, beautiful” bill making those provisions permanent.

A Public Opinion Strategies survey exclusively obtained by The Post found 84% of possible US voters would back keeping the current tax rates if they were in Congress — while just 16% would favor a tax increase.

By party affiliation, 95% of Republicans, 81% of independents and 74% of Democrats prefer the status quo in terms of taxation.

Likely senior voters, moderates and suburbanites — key demographics for next year’s midterms — were all in favor of extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act by margins of more than 60% each.

At the same time, 80% of potential voters said it was not ideal to increase taxes — up four percentage points from September — and a mere 3% said it was a good time for an increase, with 17% saying they were indifferent.

At least 68% of the poll’s respondents also said Uncle Sam was taking too much of their take-home pay, compared with 32% who said that taxes were at the right levels.

Roughly three-quarters also said that not keeping the Trump tax cuts would hurt middle-class families, small business owners and consumers the most.

Asked about the best way to chip away at the roughly $2 trillion federal budget deficit, 51% said they would like to see the feds cut spending, 44% would like to see the economy grow and revenues boosted — and just 5% would like a tax increase.

“Voters overwhelmingly support extending the 2017 tax cuts, and they want Congress to act as soon as possible to make the extension of these cuts a reality,” wrote Public Opinion Strategies partner Jim Hobart in the polling memo.

“Letting these tax cuts expires is seen as hurting small businesses, middle class families, American consumers, and the economy as a whole,” he said.

“Thus, it is no surprise that extending the 2017 cuts is a clear political winner with not just Republicans, but also with the swing voters who will be pivotal in the 2026 midterm elections.”

Republicans in Congress are seeking to codify up to $1.5 trillion in spending cuts as part of a budget reconciliation bill to keep tax rates at the same levels, in addition to ending taxation on tips, overtime and Social Security.

“President Trump’s tax cuts were critical to delivering relief to the middle class and our Republican majority is ready to vote to make them permanent, while Democrats are fighting tooth-and-nail to force a $4 billion tax increase on hardworking Americans,” Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) told The Post.

“Despite lies from Democrats and their media allies, President Trump has been absolutely clear that cuts to Social Security and Medicaid are absolutely off the table.” 

Trump had briefly considered hiking taxes on higher earners to pay for the massive package but has since rejected the notion.

“We’ve got three legs to the president’s economic agenda — trade, tax, and deregulation — and we hope that we can have this tax portion done by Fourth of July,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week after a meeting with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD).

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said he hopes to have the tax provisions through his chamber by the May 26 Memorial Day holiday.

That bill has been repeatedly attacked by congressional Democrats as a giveaway to the ultra-rich, but Republicans may be able to pass it by a simple majority through a process known as budget reconciliation.

The Public Opinion Strategies poll surveyed 1,000 likely voters between April 10 and 14, with a “credibility interval of +3.53% in 95 out of 100 cases,” according to the memo.

It was commissioned by Americans for Prosperity as a part of a $20 million campaign to call for the renewal of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.